Optically pumped 1.3 μm room-temperature InAs quantum-dot micro-disk lasers directly grown on (001) silicon.

Direct integration of high-performance laser diodes on silicon will dramatically transform the world of photonics, expediting the progress toward low-cost and compact photonic integrated circuits (PICs) on the mainstream silicon platform. Here, we report, to the best of our knowledge, the first 1.3 μm room-temperature continuous-wave InAs quantum-dot micro-disk lasers epitaxially grown on industrial-compatible Si (001) substrates without offcut. The lasing threshold is as low as hundreds of microwatts, similar to the thresholds of identical lasers grown on a GaAs substrate. The heteroepitaxial structure employed here does not require the use of an absorptive germanium buffer and/or dislocation filter layers, both of which impede the efficient coupling of light from the laser active regions to silicon waveguides. This allows for full compatibility with the extensive silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The large-area virtual GaAs (on Si) substrates can be directly adopted in various mature in-plane laser configurations, both optically and electrically. Thus, this demonstration represents a major advancement toward the commercial success of fully integrated silicon photonics.